THE Fine Gael Dublin South TD, Mr Alan Shatter, has ended speculation about his political future by confirming that he intends to contest the next general election.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Shatter said it was no secret that he had been considering whether to leave public life. He had done so principally because he questioned whether his continued involvement would make a difference, as he believed it had in the past.
He had been "astonished" at the public reaction to media reports of his possible departure from politics and was "very grateful" to all who had urged him to stay on.
However, referring to the limitations of backbenchers, whose role he likened to "a spectator at a football match", Mr Shatter said that, while one's presence was useful, one's original input was deemed superfluous".
It was his personal experience of politics that it was easier to "push the legislative boat out" and act as a catalyst for reform from the opposition side of the Dail than from what he regarded as "the political wilderness of the government back benches".
